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Class of 1956 celebrates 50 years
On 9/16/2006

Contributed by: Alice Durfee on 10/2/2006

Some 35 alumni trooped down the hall-a human column liberally sprinkled with grey or balding heads on bodies more rotund than svelte. Our guide stopped to comment on a wall of photographs, and we came to a shuffling halt-crowding close around him-the better to hear yet more anecdotes about our high school alma mater-Maine Township High School in Park Ridge, Illinois (now known as Maine East). The school tour was part of my fiftieth high school class reunion-the first school reunion I had ever attended-and my daughter Karen accompanied me on the trip from Denver to Chicago.
Why go now? I'm not sure. For fifty years, I never even tried to keep in touch with my classmates. Truth be known-they didn't know me that well then, and I had no illusions about anyone remembering me now. Quiet and shy during my high-school years, I left for college determined to reinvent myself, and until now, I never looked back.
Surprisingly, I met quite a few reunion attendees who, like myself, were attending their first-ever reunion also. Perhaps, there's something about being faced with the fiftieth that elicits the response-if not now, when? How many more will there be?
As things turned out, the weekend was a hoot! I loved it all-even though I didn't remember-much less recognize-many. The faces scarcely matched the high school senior pictures, reproduced for our nametags. Few remembered me either, but everyone was friendly, and memory lapses didn't seem to matter. A bonus was sharing a weekend of quality time with daughter Karen.
A reunion dinner/dance, attended by 139 alumni plus guests (from our class of 546) was the main event of the weekend. Delightful though that was, I enjoyed the school tour most of all. Transportation to the school from our hotel was appropriately provided via a yellow school bus. The school looked much the same despite some additions and updates. Our guide was a walking encyclopedia of school history and trivia and could tell us about any teacher we named. He regaled us with stories about the community, the school and some of its more famous alumni-including Harrison Ford and Hillary Clinton. (He mentioned the time he kicked Hillary out of his history class for talking too much.)
Most of all, however, our tour guide made me realize how privileged I had been to attend such a fine school. Even today it is ranked among the nation's top five percent. I'm grateful for both the experience of graduating from such a school and for the opportunity to visit it 50 years later with my daughter. I hope my grandchildren are similarly blessed with excellent schools in Denver.
In the school building that Saturday morning, we were not alone. A group of drama students were building a set on the stage of the auditorium. Through the glass windows of a classroom door, we viewed an ESL class in progress. Assorted athletic programs were in evidence-including girls' volleyball. One of the volleyball girls was in the corridor when we paused to peek inside the new gymnasium.
"What are you doing here?" she asked someone in our group.
"We're alums-we graduated here fifty years ago.
"Oooh!" she squealed. "That's so cute!"
The patronizing remark struck me as hilarious, but I only smiled. I could never have imagined reaching this fifty-year milestone when I was her age either.
But the years do roll by, Missy-faster than you think. Happily good times keep rolling along as well.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Alice Durfee

Denver , CO

Alice Durfee has posted 1 story and 0 comments since joining on 9/30/2006. Alice Durfee 's average story rating is 0.
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